


Defy Thy Fate

by poisonous_panda



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Anger, Daemonification, Empathy, F/M, Fate, Gen, Injustice, Judgement, Love, M/M, Memories, Rebellion, Redemption, Ring of the Lucii, Starscourge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-01-23 15:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18552439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonous_panda/pseuds/poisonous_panda
Summary: Inspired by my dear friend Astral_Artz on twitter. What if Ardyn tried to piss off Bahamut in the final fight but the memory absorption with his daemonification ability worked both ways with Noctis due to their Lucis Caelum blood being able to tolerate the Scourge? Noctis would be furious at the injustice the progenitor of his bloodline inflicted on his elder brother and takes it personally due to having to have grown up watching the life get sucked out of Regis due to the Ring. Would they still battle it out, or turn on Bahamut?





	1. Empathy

It was foretold to be the battle to decide the fate of Eos.

Would the divinely Chosen King - Noctis Lucis Caelum - finally banish the Scourge ravaging the Star by ending the immortal life of his ancestor's brother, Ardyn Lucis Caelum? Or would he fall, and allow Ardyn to keep the world on it's knees in perpetual daemon-filled darkness?

The answer was neither. For Ardyn had his own plan.

In the battle-weary streets of Insomnia, just off to the left side of the Citadel where both men grew up in their respective time periods, the Chosen King and Adagium were fighting to claim each other's lives. Ardyn had even made it deceptively easy for Noctis despite towering over the younger man - he was pausing between attacks, restraining his full power and even getting close enough to grab the younger man's shirt and speak for longer than necessary. He did not want to kill the younger man, for he had something much crueller in mind.

Noctis however, knew the fate of the world rested on his shoulders. And he knew this night would be the last for both of them. Yet despite that, he found himself hesitating to deliver the final blow. He knew something of Ardyn's past, for the ancient would-be King had told him himself, and the story had been corroborated ten years later by his adviser Ignis Scientia when the blinded man had retrieved some long-forgotten texts with the young Talcott from the King's Tombs. Neither king were calling their Armiger - the crystalline weapons bound to their souls - nor was Ardyn using any of his daemonic power; the same way Noctis was only using a fraction of his elemental abilities.

Ardyn was once a healer. But rather than possessing curative magic, he had simply absorbed the Starscourge from the suffering populace, thus returning them to their natural human state before they were transformed into bloodthirsty daemons. But his power came at a price - the Scourge bonded to his blood and mutated him. The Crystal, a huge jewel gifted to the Lucis Caelum line that housed the soul of Eos, had originally chosen him to be the first king due to his kind heart, strong sense of duty and loyalty to the pantheon of Astrals. However, the healer's younger brother had seen how the Scourge was corrupting his brother and allegedly snatched the crown from him; causing the elder to be rejected by both the Crystal and the Gods yet cursed with an eternal, lonely life. As a consequence and through no fault of his own, Ardyn had been sealed away for thousands of years and removed from the history books - his good deeds rewritten in his younger brother's name.

They both pounced at each other again and their swords were locked between them, both pushing their full weight forward, trying to topple the other - the metallic clash ringing out into the unnatural night. Even the daemons themselves dared not get involved. 

Noctis was tiring, so he didn't react fast enough when Ardyn pulled his sword back, causing the younger man to fall forward. But before he hit the ground, Noctis was thrown up into the air at dizzying speed by a flash of dark purple energy. Although it hadn't injured him in itself, landing back on the cracked concrete certainly hurt. 

"Ha! Is this really the best you can do?!" Ardyn called from the other side of the street, disappointment and mockery unmistakable in his tone.

Noctis didn't reply, instead he clambered to his feet, sword in hand, and warped to his ancestor. Ardyn took the hit and stumbled backwards, streaks of black Scourge-tainted blood dripping from the hole made in his upper abdomen and through the Niflheim waistcoat. But the older man simply responded with slashes of his own. His sword was much larger than Noct's, and it seemed to be painted an ominous red hue. 

Noctis tried to upper cut the older man's shoulder, but Ardyn simply side-stepped him and slashed at Noct's ribs; creating a bloody gash and ripping through the dark Kingly attire. As Noctis crumpled in pain, Ardyn took the opportunity to use his height and momentum to his advantage. Closing the gap between them, Ardyn used his shoulder to push Noctis off his feet so the Chosen King landed awkwardly on the floor. Stepping back a little to give Noctis some room to recover, he held his arms out in an arrogant gesture, as if offering himself as a target. Noctis rolled onto his knees and attempted to catch his breath, but Ardyn warped over to him at the speed of light and wickedly kicked him straight in the ribs - sending him sprawling.

"Ten years, and nothing to show for it!" Ardyn chuckled nastily.

Noctis jumped to his feet and threw an ice elemental grenade at Ardyn, causing the older man to momentarily freeze in place so Noctis could warp to him and impale him square in the chest.

In a flash of blue light, the Chosen King's sword struck its target. But it was the biggest mistake Noctis made.

Ardyn was indeed impaled up to the ornamental one-winged hilt of the heirloom sword, but he just smirked and grabbed Noctis around the mouth.

"Now.... the prophecy will never be fulfilled!" he screamed, losing all his previous composure as his golden eyes were ablaze with a rage that was over two millennia old.

Noctis could do nothing but grab the hand around his mouth with both of his own, and kick his legs that were several inches from the ground.

Black tendrils of smoke began creeping out of Ardyn's sleeve and over his fingerless gloves, until they began curling lazily over the older man's fingers. Noct's blue eyes widened in fear as he began to kick even harder in an attempt to escape the advancing infection.

"Become a slave of mine and you and that Draconian will never get what you want!" Ardyn screamed again, looking up at Noctis as he raised the fearful man higher, "You took everything from me!". The Fallen Healer had truly turned maniacal. Noctis didn't know what Ardyn meant, but the way his golden eyes had glazed over, he knew it wasn't him the fallen healer was looking at.

The Scourge stroked Noct's face before the tendrils began to burrow into his porcelain skin. Noctis felt the ice cold sting as the Scourge penetrated his skin and quickly spread throughout the rest of him. His stomach began to knot and his vision was going blurry. It was almost like he was looking down a watery tunnel with a strange room at the end. Feeling Ardyn's fingers tighten around his jaw, Noctis was only slightly aware of his enemy's pained scream as an image of the throne room in the Citadel took over his vision.

Noctis was in the throne room, looking at a crowd of people behind a man who looked _exactly_ like him but with shorter hair. He felt weird in his skin too, like he was wearing heavy robes with a sort of cape, but no matter how much he tried to look, his body would not respond. There was a searing pain in his chest, and when his head finally decided to look down, he realised he had a spear impaled through his chest. But... but it wasn't his chest.

He was wearing all white, and he was sure he wasn't actually this tall or this broad?

His hand moved of it's own accord and attempted to pull the polearm from his chest, but at the same time his doppelganger was running towards him with his sword poised for a killing blow. He must be Somnus, Ardyn's brother and the Founder King. What a sick joke they look alike, no wonder Ardyn hated him so much. Noctis resolved to never cut his hair again.

Suddenly his beloved Luna shielded him and she took the blow, the sharp metal cutting clean through her spinal chord so her legs were useless underneath her. The sight of her made Noct's heart stop. She crashed to the ground but... but Luna would never wear something that revealed so much of her legs at the side? 

Noct's body took a couple of trembling steps towards her before he fell to his knees and cradled the woman. She wasn't Luna, she was a doppelganger just like the black-haired killer. Then she spoke.

"Ardyn.." she said tenderly, pain enveloping her voice.

Noctis couldn't believe his ears, until he felt his own mouth move as he responded in a broken tone "Aera...". He could feel her warm blood soaking the white sleeves of his cloak as she bled to death.

Luna's ancestor maybe? She must have meant a lot to Ardyn because the heartbreak Noctis could feel was indescribable, he would probably even go as far to say the pain was far more intense than his own grief at watching Ardyn kill Lunafreya. How must that have affected him, killing a woman who looked just like the one he had loved and lost?

Suddenly Noctis was blinded by a bright light and there was white hot pain all over his body. He was cold and slightly suspended in the air with his arms raised. There were disorientated groans coming from his lips even though he wasn't consciously making them. He couldn't move his head, but his eyes were slightly open and he could see what looked like chains literally stabbed into his shirtless flesh in his peripheral vision. The dried crusted blood was as black as sin, so Noctis knew he was still experiencing Ardyn's memories. He felt sick with grief and disgust, and there was a heavy sense of defeat.

But then there were heavy footsteps, coordinated like the military. The Niflheim army spilled into the stone prison in a perfectly synchronised formation. Noctis wanted to instinctively tense up, but again his body wouldn't respond. Instead he saw... Prompto? ... No, must be Verstael... looking up at him with a triumphant smile. In the pit of his stomach, he could feel a mixture of anger, relief and fear. He would have vomited if he could.

That blinding white light stung his eyes again.

This time he watches helplessly as his body fights his father, but the King looked much younger. It was so fast Noct's head was spinning just trying to keep up. Then he was engaged in a fierce battle with a giant statue of the Founder King, and he was _enjoying_ it. But again it was like watching a movie which had been set to fast forward. He/Ardyn won the battle and then approached the fallen Regis. He/Ardyn raised his large red sword and attempted to impale Regis.... until Bahamut transports them into the Astral plane.

Noctis/Ardyn were standing suspended in a blue dimension, with prism rainbows floating off in the corner of mortal vision, but vanish whenever the mortal eye attempts to focus on them. It reminded Noctis exactly of his time spent captured inside the Crystal of Lucis, absorbing it's power.

The Draconian towered over him, and his booming voice explains how Ardyn was always destined to be a vessel of the Scourge to be eradicated in the future. Noctis could feel the rage swelling inside Ardyn like an unstoppable tsunami. After everything he had done, not only had his relatives turned their back on him, but now the Gods dared to as well despite everything - EVERYTHING he had done in their name?! So many questions swirled in Noct's head as he/Ardyn were transported back to Angelgard. He then witnessed firsthand his ancestor's descent into madness, as he walked in a daze down the stone prison's steps, Hatred consumed his soul as he swore to end his treacherous brother's bloodline and destroy everything he had created. In the back of his mind - although Noctis realised Ardyn was still consciously trying to push it away - he wanted to end Aera's line too for her role in Somnus' betrayal.

"Noctis! Wake up! Wake up you useless sack of flesh!" came a booming gravelly shout. It seemed so incongruous with the moonlight bathed stone around him. 

But everything's getting fuzzy....

"Noctis!" the angry voice commanded again.

Noctis is suddenly aware of cold stone on his back, but his vision is just a blur of rapidly changing colours. He feels cold now, and like he isn't actually anchored to a body, and his centre of gravity felt off. There's a warm tingling pain across his cheek and it makes it feel like his brain is rattling in his skull.

"Oh Noctis wake up will you?!" comes the frustrated voice again. Was it... Ardyn?

A strained groan escapes Noct's throat as he comes back to his reality. 

His cheeks were stinging, there was a throbbing pain in the back of his head like he'd smashed it on something hard, the muscles in both his arms and legs felt absolutely exhausted. And his heart felt - at least for the moment - irreparably broken, with the emotion clogged in his throat.

There's strong hands on his shoulders, shaking him out of the brain fog.

"Noctis wake up!" Ardyn commanded his brother's descendent, and Noctis complied.

"Ardyn.... I saw... her, him... all of them." he confessed, slowly opening his eyes and meeting his ancestor's gaze.

Ardyn was ready to tear Noct's heart out judging by his facial expression, but the transparent pearls of tears streaming down his stubbled face and the heavy breaths wracking his shoulders gave away the older man's panic.


	2. A Burden Shared Is A Burden Halved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The men have a genuine heart-to-heart after experiencing each other's past. Then... A plan begins to form

Ardyn couldn't believe his ears. This brat had seen his past?! Actually experienced it as he had experienced the younger man's lonely childhood? He didn't know whether to be pleased or furious. 

So instead he roughly pulled the dazed younger man to his feet and held his lapels as he re orientated himself. It was silent for a few moments; all that could be heard was the slight wind that plucked at the monarch's clothes and daemons hissing in the distance. 

"You were telling the truth..." Noctis finally says weakly, bringing his gaze to look Ardyn in the eye.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Ardyn growled "Why are you not a mindless daemon?!"

"I.... don't know." Noctis replies truthfully, regaining full control of his legs and gently pushing Ardyn's supporting hands off his chest, "How were you not turned into a daemon back then?"

"The all-knowing Draconian called it a blessing of my blood." Ardyn tried to be flippant - even swatted his hand in the air as an off-the-cuff gesture - but his tone was hollow. And Noctis could see straight through his act for the first time since meeting the mysterious stranger.

"What they did to you was... awful. And the way that woman was taken from you..." Noctis was only just starting to really process what he had seen, and was staring at his feet and clenching his fists at the injustice of it all.

"Yet the Gods saw fit to make you look just like him." Ardyn snarled, his anger rising as the memories resurfaced.

"I am _nothing_ like him!" Noctis shouted in defence, even taking a step towards his ancestor in defiance.

Ardyn wasn't having it, they had come too far. In a flash of red light he had summoned his massive sword and impaled the Chosen King right through the thorax.

No words were shared, Noctis only had the energy to gasp in surprise as Ardyn snarled like a furious predator; spittle forming on his lips as the intense rage burned inside of him, All his years of waiting, he wasn't going to let this pass. 

"The line of Somnus _will_ end! Apologies mean nothing now!" the ancient being screamed in Noct's face as he savagely pushed his sword deeper through Noct's slender body. The force sent them both toppling to the ground, but Ardyn's hands never left the hilt of his weapon.

Pressed against the tarmac of the cracked road and held fast by the blade that had quite literally skewered him, Noctis was surprised he wasn't in too much pain. Maybe it was the adrenaline? However, he could feel the weight of his ancestor and his flamboyant clothing settling on top of him. But there was something else as well.... Ardyn was moving erratically above him...

He was crying. He had let go of his weapon still lodged into the younger king and allowed his hands to ball into fists on the ground either side of Noct's body.

His shoulders were heaving and the fabric shawls around him were fluttering with the jerky movements. Noctis could see the top of the elder's head and the rise and fall of his shoulders, but his face was pressed just above the fatal wound above Noct's diaphragm. It seemed such an unnatural sound.... the man with an answer for everything, who kept his nerve no matter the situation, the immortal with nothing to lose. Yet here he was, allowing all those years of pain to finally flow out.

Noct's heart broke for him, despite the evil things he had done. So he lifted his arms and wrapped them around the older man in a brotherly embrace. 

"Was it hard... for you to kill her... up on that alter?" Noctis asked tentatively, thinking back to his beloved Lunafreya. He had to know because his mind hadn't been able to keep up with the thousands of years of memories.

Ardyn didn't even look up as he answered.

"No... the Gods made it easy for me by stealing Aera's face. But she was just a pawn in the game." the immortal answered truthfully. Then the sobbing resumed, but more muted.

Noctis understood, but the words were still a stab in his heart. Luna was going to die anyway once her convenants were forged, but it still hurt having her ripped from his life. Ardyn shouldn't be alive now, he should have been buried in a royal tomb thousands of years ago. Everything he's done was to bring his own death around. A part of him will always hate Ardyn, but actually seeing those memories when he tried to daemonify him... _feeling_ them.... it really changed the young king's perspective. What Ardyn had to endure was far crueller than anything he had been able to inflict in the last few years. They were all tangled in a tale of tragedy of the Gods' doing.

Of Insomnia's Founder King's doing.

But the people of Eos did nothing to deserve the ten years of Darkness, and all the deaths it brought.

Suddenly Ardyn gasped and propped himself up with his hands to stare at Noct's chest, his golden eyes wide up in shock. Or was that fear? He pushes off his hands, pulls his sword from Noct's chest and crawls backwards to stare at his brother's descendant with his tear-stained face.

Noctis didn't understand. If this was death, it was far more peaceful and painless than he had been imagining. The slash on his side from his battle with Ardyn earlier had stopped hurting completely. He thought Ardyn would be overjoyed, but he seems to be... Is that regret in the older man's eyes?.

But then he felt it. A cold throbbing pain at the impact site just under his lungs. This must be it, Noctis thought. There was a sense of guilt he couldn't fulfil the prophecy he had been brought up believing he was the answer to, but experiencing Ardyn's past had changed him profoundly.

Then the pain came. Noctis pressed both his hands over the wound and rolled onto his side, his body tensing and his eyes squeezed shut. His body began to shudder, like he was gripped in a seizure. No sound escaped Noct's mouth even though he tried to call for help, all he could do was tighten his body in the foetal position in a vain attempt to use himself as a bandage.

Opening his eyes a crack, he can see smoke rising from all over his body. Was he on fire?! But it didn't burn.... if anything he felt a chill right down into his bones. Maybe he had lost a lot of blood without realising. No... there's no blood on the tarmac. Suddenly he felt his body jolt violently upwards - bringing him to his knees - and his vision was stained with a kaleidoscope of dark purple, blue and black. It felt like some force was literally trying to burst out of every fibre of his skin - very similar to how he had felt when he first put the Ring of the Lucii on his finger. An animalistic roar ripped from the base of his chest, through his throat and out past his bared teeth.

Then nothing.

The young king lay face down on the concrete, seemingly comatose.

Ardyn crawled on his hands and knees - leaving his sword behind him - and brought himself to Noct's side. Placing a large hand on the younger man's slender shoulder, he pushed him over onto his back.

His face was bleeding. More accurately, it was _oozing_. Oozing black Scourge.

The Chosen King was now infected. Immortal, yet remained sentient. Ardyn realised the Scourge had bonded to his Lucis Caelum blood just like it had to his own.

Ardyn stared with baited breath as Noct's eyelids began to quiver slightly. This was a game changer.

Noctis opened his eyes and, upon feeling the cold wetness on his face, he brought his hand up and wipes his fingers across his cheek; smearing the black ooze over his fingertips so he could see it. Surprisingly, he wasn't as shocked as he thought he would be.

".... I'm like you now." the young man states matter-of-factly. So much was happening tonight, Noct's emotions struggled to keep up and react appropriately.

"Forgive me, I did not think it would happen twice." Ardyn confesses, looking at his lap with his shoulders slumped. Noct's irises had turned as golden as his own, and the effect around the dark hair and pale skin was a little disconcerting.

"I forgive you." Noctis said without hesitation, "Could we both... end the Darkness?" The young man looked at his elder with hopeful eyes.

"I don't know." Ardyn signed, still not making eye contact with the young king, "The Draconian decreed I would be the source, the vessel. With two of us... I do not know if that changes things."

Noctis sat up straight as he felt the ooze drying on his skin. 

"Could we ask him?" he asked hopefully.

Ardyn could only stare at the younger boy, wondering how he managed to remain so hopeful. As they held each other's gaze, the temperature plummeted rather suddenly.

"A coldness that could only be hers." Noctis recites Ardyn's own words to him several years ago, and Ardyn couldn't help but smile at his words being remembered. Both men got to their feet, with Ardyn standing behind Noctis.

Sure enough, Shiva the Goddess of Ice materialised in front of them in her scantily clad outfit. Ardyn didn't say a word to the Frostbearer, but Noctis had far more respect for the Gods. 

"Shiva," he asks solemnly, getting to his feet to look the petite woman in her icy white eyes, "What happened to Ardyn was... unforgivable. How can we make it right?"

"The Accursed was to be slain by the Chosen King, and his soul be banished in the Astral realm." she replies enigmatically, with a tender smile on her face.

"But that didn't happen! Look! I've absorbed it too now!" Noctis argued, getting a little irritated. At first the God's strange ways of communicating intrigued him, but knowing their role in damning a human who blindly followed their will like he and Lunafreya had done had made his patience wear thin.

"Tis true... the prophecy cannot be fulfilled-" she began.

"If anything, it's rendered as useless as you lot." Ardyn quipped. Shiva ignored his presence completely; not that the ancient Healer minded.

"Everything is preordained." Shiva said confidently, not noticing Ardyn rolling his eyes.

"So... why was it not mentioned in the prophecy about me being transformed?!" Noctis shouted, taking a step towards the petite woman in frustration.

The Frostbearer did nothing but smile at the young man before she vanished in shimmer of ice crystals.

"Dammit!" Noctis seethed through gritted teeth, "How did Luna ever get a straight answer from them?"

"Aera never told me either." Ardyn said, walking up to his brother's descendant's side. 

Noctis remembered Aera's face, and how Luna looked just like her. And he looked just like Somnus.

"We look like them, but we are not." Noctis tries to say calmly.

Ardyn looked at Noctis out the corner of his eye, weighing up what to say.

"I know you're not. Your very actions tonight proved it." he decided to provoke Noctis. "Your so-called beloved though, she was as blind as my own."

"Don't you dare!" Noctis screamed as he pivoted on the spot and summoned a sword out of his Armiger, his face contorting in anger.

"Oh dear boy, what are you going to do now? We are one and the same!" Ardyn chuckled, placing his hands on his hips; that cocky confidence back in full display, "Do you think your Luna would have stood by you in my position? Or would she have left you like my Aera?" Ardyn challenged, "They may have cared about us, but it was the Gods they loved."

Noctis felt rage swelling in his heart, and pain, but he knew the elder spoke the truth.

"They loved us..." he trailed off, banishing his sword back into his Armiger.

"Yes," Ardyn replied stony faced, "But we would never have competed with _them_ , can't you see?" 

Noctis could, he just hated to think about it.

"Besides, you were never in love with he-" Ardyn began to tease with a nasty smile on his face.

"Ardyn don't you dare!" Noctis warned again, closing the gap between himself and his ancestor. But Ardyn didn't move. Was there a small flicker of panic in the younger man's eyes?

"If I hadn't visited the Citadel that day... if I hadn't offered the political marriage..." Ardyn began nastily, "Would you two have married?"

Noctis genuinely didn't know and cast his eyes sideways and down at the floor to avoid Ardyn's gaze. He loved Luna, what did the specifics matter?

"No one can deny you loved the woman, but you weren't _in love_ with her, were you dear boy?" Ardyn asked, his tone far softer and more genuine. Noctis still couldn't look up at him though.

"You admired her. Her strength, her beauty, her kind soul..." Ardyn began tenderly again.

"Are you talking about me, or yourself?" Noctis growled, balling his fists and looking Ardyn square in the face.

"Both, dear boy. But Aera was my one and only until she betrayed me. You however...." Ardyn circled around Noctis is a taunting manner, but his tone was still gentle, "There is another." 

Noct's eyes widened in panic. Ardyn had seen everything. There was a truth he had hid from everyone, even himself, for many years.

Ardyn circled Noctis again.

"Your heart's desire, so close now." the older man repeated the same line he used to taunt Noctis ten years ago in the Keep of Niflheim. Pausing in front of the younger man, the elder tipped his head backwards and side eyed him, "And I wasn't talking about the Crystal."

Noct's body went rigid. What could he say? Ardyn saw and _felt_ his memories.

"You never considered having a family for you knew your time was short. You loved your Luna, but she was not the one who had the biggest part of your heart." Ardyn started again, wandering off in front of Noctis as he rambled.

"So what?" Noctis tried, sounding far more confident than he felt.

"Breaking down the borders hmm? What about when your so-called beloved was trapped by Niflheim rule in Tenebrae?!" Ardyn pivoted and stared hard into Noct's unsure eyes, his arm raised in a fist, "Where was the brave rescue? I'll tell you!" he continued nastily, taking slow deliberate steps towards the tainted Chosen King, "You chose to save your heart's desire, the choice you made for yourself, rather than the beloved you were _told_ to have!"

Ardyn bent slightly at the hip to come in close to Noct's face.

"We couldn't..." Noctis began. He wasn't entirely sure where his sentence was going, he was just too uncomfortable to stay silent.

"Did you ever actually ask him?" Ardyn asked, his tone becoming tender again.

Noctis just looked at the floor. He felt like a child being goaded into confessing something.

A few moments silence echoed around them until Ardyn broke it.

"Well now you can keep the promise to your true beloved. You're immortal. No need for borders. And as _king_ ," he said the word bitterly, like it was poison in his mouth, "You can make it happen."

Noctis snapped, the fear he'd held all his life finally came out.

"But I never asked to be King!" Ardyn watched at Noct's eyes teared up and overflowed, "I watched my Dad age too fast because of this stupid Ring and all because the _Crystal_ told him to! We believed every word! We were stupid! Look what they did to you! How can I be expected to follow anything they say after I've seen that?!"

Ardyn's face didn't change, but he felt his heart swell with an unwelcome pride for his brother's descendent. He truly was better than Somnus in every way despite appearances. Noctis just continued to rant.

"I haven't been taught any of that responsibility because I wasn't going to live that long! I don't _want_ it! I was alone for so long, just watching my Dad waste away! The only time I ever felt good was around my friends when I was older!" Noctis covered his face with his hands, "We believed them... but I only ever wanted to be with him and have a normal life."

Ardyn just stared as the younger man had his breakdown. Some things couldn't be buried.

Noctis growled into his hands then - removing them from his face - ripped the Ring of the Lucii from his finger and threw it onto the ground.

"I want nothing more to do with them! We are going to banish this eternal night and fix whatever wrongs we have to to make this right!" Noctis shouted in Ardyn's direction, but his hatred wasn't actually directed at him. Tears still spilled down the younger man's face as he stared at his shoes. He hated the Gods for what they did to his father, for what they made his best friend Luna do to herself, and for what they commanded of him from the tender age of five years old. "I am _nothing_ like Somnus." Noctis finished, going rigid but still staring at his shoes.

Ardyn felt a strange sensation. His heart hurt. No... not hurt. It... This was pride. Despite the appearance, Noctis surpassed the progenitor of his bloodline in every way. This was the brother Ardyn had wanted. So he took a few quiet steps towards his brother's doppelganger and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"That's all I ever wanted to do in the first place. But then what about after? You and I will walk this earth forevermore."

"We can deal with that when it comes to it. But first we've got to find a way."

Ardyn couldn't help but chuckle.

"It seems my heart hasn't iced over as much as I thought dear boy. Okay, we shall go on your little quest. And I may know exactly where to start." 

Noctis looked up at the elder man with a questioning look. The elder's golden eyes were sparkling. He had a plan already.

"Do you still have your father's boat?"


	3. Hardening Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ardyn and Noctis prepare for a showdown, but it turns out to not be against who they think. An unexpected ally also comes to their aid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a very small reference to the Resist Your Fate ending in Episode Ardyn, just so you're aware in case you haven't seen that one.

Ardyn's final question had puzzled the newly immortal Chosen King, but he answered truthfully nevertheless - it was moored at the pier of the ruined seaside resort of Galdin Quay. Ardyn had insisted they were to get to it as soon as possible, yet the older man had avoided his brother's descendant's question about why they needed it.

"But... my friends-" Noctis had begun to protest, trying to ignore the hissing and shrill daemonic laughter he could hear in the distance. Thankfully no daemon strayed into their path.

"Relax dear boy, they're unharmed." Ardyn smiled as he dragged the younger man by the sleeve out of the city of Insomnia. The spritely spring in the Accursed's steps did not go unnoticed by Noctis, he was excited about something, "I merely rendered them unconscious as we were to fight like the puppets we are without interference. The further away I get, the quicker they'll come around." 

"..... How?" Noctis hesitantly asked, not really wanting to know the answer. He was still getting dragged by the sleeve through Insomnia by his ancestor - his slightly oversized Kingly clothing rustling in the gentle night time breeze as the fabric struggled to settle on his slender physique - but he couldn't really keep up with the older man's long strides; Noctis had received the small stature genes from his mother.

"Don't bother yourself with the details, we have far more important business to attend to." Ardyn growled. Noctis complied.

Catching up to his elder and tugging his sleeve from his grip, Noctis followed Ardyn until something caught the corner of his eye.

"Hang on a minute." he says softly. Ardyn stops in his tracks heading for the underground subway system and turns to see what has caught the younger man's eye. What the elder saw made his blood boil.

It was a memorial of his dear brother Somnus Lucis Caelum, the Founder King.

Noctis stood in front of the memorial for a time, seemingly caught in a battle within himself. Ardyn didn't move from his place at the top of the stairs leading underground - one foot already on the first stair as he watched his brother's lookalike, albeit with longer hair and some dark stubble on his chin - and now his irises glowed golden like his ancient uncle rather than the moonlit blue of his progenitor. Then the younger man did something that truly surprised the ancient being.

Noctis held his arm out with his fingers extended, grasped his father's sword as he summoned from the Armiger and cleaved the memorial stone to his progenitor cleanly in two with one powerful strike. When he turned to face his ancestor, his face was twisted into anger and... vengeance? Ardyn wasn't sure. But he hadn't seen the younger man's eyes glow with this much determination in a long time. All he was sure about, were the two wet streaks he saw rolling down the younger man's cheeks.

"I am _nothing_ like him," Noctis began, Ardyn went to interrupt but the intensity of Noct's gaze killed the words in his throat, "He started all this with blind ambition no matter who stood in his path, but I will finish it. _We_ will finish it. I want no more blood spilled because of this Darkness."

Ardyn couldn't help by drily chuckle.

"My dear boy, you realise _we_ are Darkness Incarnate now, right?"

"Yes," Noctis answered, his gaze not softening in the slightest as he banished his weapon back into the Armiger, "And if we could change that part of the prophecy, what else can we change?"

"Ha!" exclaimed Ardyn, a wry smile spreading across his strong stubbled jaw, "You remind me of a younger me."

Noctis said nothing. Instead he just closed the gap between himself and Ardyn, then took the lead. "Come on, let's not waste time."

Ardyn couldn't help but giggle slightly. Look at the change in the Chosen, just by seeing his ancestor's memories! Oh how the dastardly Draconian was in for a shock.

"Yes, Your Majesty." the elder answers mockingly. But he was starting to develop a certain level of respect for the once hapless King.

The duo strode through Insomnia making little conversation, but they didn't need to. It was Ardyn who eventually broke the silence as they crossed the tarmacked bridge connecting the entrance of Insomnia to Leide.

"Ohhh Noct!" Ardyn calls playfully, "Let's save our legs shall we?"

Noctis pivoted on his heel to see what the hell his ancestor seemed so chipper about. The wine-haired man had one hand on the bonnet of a car amid the masses of rotting vehicles parked along the chain-link fence overlooking the Crestholm Channels, and the other hand on his hip. Noctis would never forget that car if he tried - it was so ridiculously flamboyant and it stuck out from the crowd so unapologetically; just like it's owner. The paint had worn away quite a bit, but the ridiculous pink-red shade was still visible, as was the vivid white stripe running from bonnet to boot. Noctis has heard that since the Eternal Night took over Eos, it never rained, stormed, snowed or anything other than remained in perpetual night. The populace had to learn their own agricultural techniques and water purifying and recycling systems over the years - unfortunately that led to many more deaths than the daemons could achieve alone. The roof of the car was up, which seemed to spare the plum leather interior from any damage.

Ardyn had already unlocked the car - it seemed he kept the key with him at all times - fastened his seat belt, lowered the roof, reached over and opened the front passenger side. Then he just sat there with a smug grin on his face. Noctis knew exactly what he was doing, and years ago that smug grin would have infuriated him. Now it feels almost familiar, but still a little annoying.

Taking his seat beside Ardyn and fastened his own seat belt as Ardyn started the engine. The car purred into life and Ardyn began the long drive to Galdin Quay.

"She runs so smoothly!" Noct said, surprising himself with how comfortable and confident he felt as he placed a hand on the car's dashboard, "How's she still going after all these years?"

"You don't think I left my old girl to rot do you?" Ardyn side-eyed Noctis with a smile, "Besides, ten years by myself wandering around a dead city can be terribly boring. I've become quite the mechanic." 

The reply made Noct smile despite himself, and they both settled in for the long drive. Again Noct noted how the daemons left him and Ardyn alone as if they recognised them as one of their own ilk.

Eventually, after they were both feeling a little stiff from sitting down for so long, Ardyn pulled the car into what was left of the decimated resort's car park and they both climbed out; with Ardyn locking the door behind them. Noctis wasn't used to seeing daemons - especially the vicious little tonberry variety - literally either part to let them pass or ignore them entirely. The men walked down the pier in silence and around opposite sides of Coctura's bar. Noct had noticed the rotting chef's clothing on the floor but tried to push it from his mind. Hopefully after tonight no more blood will be shed.

Noctis led his elder wordlessly to the pier at the back of the resort - feeling a little uneasy as the imps continued to play and torment one another without even glancing at the pair of them - and they both boarded the King's old vessel.

"Take us to Angelgard." Ardyn commanded. His tone suggested it wasn't up for discussion.

Noctis looked at him curiously for a moment, trying to understand why Ardyn would want to go back to his place of imprisonment. But Ardyn didn't seem phased by the suggestion and had stretched himself out along one of the sofa-like chairs lining the deck to look up at the plasma drifting along high up in the green-black sky. So, feeling like he had no other option, Noctis started the engine and cut through the inky ocean towards the mystical Isle of Angelgard.

Their journey across the sea wasn't as comfortable as their journey from Insomnia to Galdin Quay; well, at least not for Noctis. Ardyn appeared to have drifted off to sleep in the rocking of the waves, but Noctis was concerned how such a powerful yet unstable being would react to being taken back to the place he was entombed for thousands of years. And what did he hope to accomplish there? The young King felt he had some idea, because when he woke up there not even twenty four hours ago, there had been a team of Glaives who had fought continuously for a decade with the grace of the Gods. 

Turns out, he wasn't far off the mark.

As Noct docked the boat at the lowest edge of the uneven island, he looked over at Ardyn. The older man was awake now, and sitting hunched over with his legs apart and his hands clasped between his knees. His golden eyes were staring intensely at the deck before he drew them to meet Noct's own golden ones.

"Be on your guard," he started, "There's plenty of smoke and mirrors where we're going."

"What are we going to do here?" Noctis asked. He didn't like being out of the loop.

At this, one side of Ardyn's mouth pulled into a smirk. 

"I am going to torment the Draconian a little for his failed prophecy and then.... I suppose we wait for him to come up with a new one."

"That's it?!" Noct asked incredulously, letting go of the ship's wheel to face his ancestor. "You wanted to come all this way just to spite Bahamut?"

Ardyn's eyes glowed mischievously.

"Wasn't it your very own Shield who commented that spite is the only thing that's kept me going all these years?"

Noctis didn't have an answer and actually felt a little embarrassed Gladio had been heard.

"Besides, with us both being immortal, what's the worst that could happen? They seal us away?" Ardyn asked cockily, although Noct could hear some venom lacing his words, "My boy once you've been broken by something like that, there's not much more that can be done. So if the worst should happen, I'll see you in a few thousand years."

At this Ardyn stood up, calmly walked over to the edge of the ship and pulled himself up onto Angelgard. Noctis quickly followed suit.

The Isle still looked how both men remembered it from their respective visits. It was a wide almost-circular expanse with stalagmites dotted around the place, massively overshadowed by gargantuan versions of the God of War's swords that never seemed to deteriorate. Neither men knew why the weapons had been put to rest here, but Ardyn had a suspicion it was to do with keeping him locked inside. After all, it was legend that all of Eos' power was concentrated here, that's why the Stormsender had used this very space to play judge, jury and executioner in times long past.

Standing side by side, Noctis suddenly had a question for the Accursed man on his left.

"If you wanted to speak to the Draconian, couldn't we have used the Crystal in the Throne Room?"

Ardyn sighed. It wasn't a mocking sigh, more like one you'd hear from someone when a child asks a particularly naive question.

"Because Your Majesty, _you_ absorbed all the power inside of it. It's nothing but a particularly ugly piece of decorating now. And the only other active part, the part that has my dear brother's soul trapped in it, you threw on the ground back in Insomnia." 

"No more uglier than your illusions of my father, Luna and all the others you had hanging from the ceiling?!" Noct bit back.

"Touche dear boy," Ardyn laughed, "Although I am impressed you knew they weren't the real thing."

Noctis didn't dignify that taunt with an answer and began walking towards the small hole in the wall on the other side of the expanse that led to Ardyn's original tomb. The elder followed closely behind. However, as they drew closer, they both noticed two bright yellow lights either side of the entrance.

"Brace yourself for this," Ardyn warned quietly as he stopped walking and summoned his huge red sword from his Armiger, "The tricks that will be played on us here are far crueller than anything I could dream up back at your precious Citadel."

"Huh, well that's saying something." Noctis answered drily, summoning his own sword.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." came Ardyn's reply. Despite the exchange, neither men took their eyes off the glowing lights that began to float towards them.

The lights got closer and closer, forcing both men to shield their eyes slightly. The golden glows stopped a few feet in front of them then began to take on forms. Ardyn realised what was about to happen before Noctis did, so he tightened his grip on his weapon. As the lights began to curve, features began to form.

Standing opposite their respective men, the glow died down to reveal the two white dress-clad Oracles that had previously claimed the infected men's hearts; Lunafreya opposite Noctis, Aera opposite Ardyn.

"It isn't them." Ardyn stated, not taking his eyes off his long deceased bride-to be and raising his sword so the sharpened point was aimed at her throat.

"How could you be so cruel my love?" Aera asked him, looking genuinely hurt and clasping her gloved hands to her chest.

"I think you stabbing me in front of the Draconian a few decades ago helped." the fallen healer hissed. His heart ached seeing her, but not from a love lost. It ached with the pain of her betrayal; and in Ardyn's golden eyes that made her as bad as Somnus. Her actions when he attempted to defy Bahamut had proved that.

"What of you Noctis?" Luna asked, bringing the younger man's full attention to her. Unlike his elder, Noct's heart _did_ ache for her and the love they could have had, "Do you believe I'm here?"

Noctis faltered despite Ardyn's warning earlier.

"I-I want to. Of all the times you've come to me before I had no reason to think that you weren't... real." Even though that's what he said, there was a small doubt in his mind. 

"Then why doubt me now? Now you have been consumed by the Darkness, who will save our Star?" she asked tenderly.

"There has to be another way!" Noctis cried, lowering his weapon. 

"It is pre-" Aera began.

"Yes yes pre-ordained as you told me all those decades ago." Ardyn interrupted the First Oracle, not a shred of respect in his voice. Again she looked at him with a pained expression. "But now it is undone isn't it my love," he smiles at her, "So what will your dear Gods do now?"

"They have already foreseen this." Aera stated, her face suddenly going blank and not showing any emotion at all.

"Oh good. I was beginning to worry they weren't infallible after all." Ardyn placed one hand on his hip but did not lower his sword.

"Still as foolish." Aera sighed.

"You need to beg for the Gods' forgiveness Noctis my love, please do not fall slave to the Darkness." Luna pleaded with the Chosen King, tears filling her baby blue eyes.

"But... why could they not forgive Ardyn all those years ago? Do you know what happened to him?" Noctis asked. He needed to know how the Gods he had blindly followed all his life had allowed someone so devoted to them to suffer such a cruel fate.

"I was to be a sacrificial lamb, nothing more." Ardyn answered for Luna. There was a few seconds of uncomfortable silence before Luna spoke again.

"The Gods know what is best for us."

Ardyn did not even attempt to hide his snort, whereas Noctis was wrestling with his faith.

"Bahamut wants us both dead. But why? Why could he not have helped Ardyn destroy the Scourge two thousand years ago Luna?" he cried, falling to his knees under the weight of his inner battle. Everything he knew was coming crashing down around him. He had been built for this mission, yet now it has all changed.

"Child do not question the Gods!" Aera snapped, looking disdainfully down at the younger man.

Ardyn laughed and it drew her angry gaze.

"The afterlife has not been kind to you has it my love." he giggled, "Such a terrible actress. My Aera would never have been so cruel to a young boy in crisis."

"And my beloved would never have turned into such a disgusting spiteful creature!" she shouted back, but there was a strange daemonic echo to her voice. What caught Noctis the most about it was how Luna seemed completely unfazed by it. It caused him to slowly get back on his feet. However, he'd left his weapon lying on the ground.

"If your 'perfect' Gods would have only asked me to accept such a fate rather than tricking me, I may well have accepted it!" he shouted, anger growing in his gravelly voice, "I would have done _anything_ for them! Anything for you!" Noctis could feel the dark energy roiling off of Ardyn as his temper began to give.

"Well you failed miserably didn't you." Aera retorted, folding her gloved hands over her chest.

"I suppose so." Ardyn shrugged. But then he smiled, and suddenly - before Noctis could register that the older man had moved - Ardyn was standing behind Aera with his sword pointing to the ground.

Aera let out at almighty scream and was so high-pitched it hurt Noct's ears, and the daemonic echo was far more pronounced now as she was engulfed in the golden light from earlier; a slice from her left shoulder to her right hip was visible just before she was completely engulfed in the golden light and vanished from sight.

"Don't let him harm me Noctis!" pleaded Luna, running into Noct's chest and burying her head into the crook of his shoulder. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her slender waist and rested his cheek on the top of her head against her soft blonde hair. Ardyn turned to stare at them and banished his weapon back into his Armiger. 

He knew this was Noct's battle. Although he couldn't deny he was getting a little worried the younger man had fallen for this nasty trick.

But he needn't have worried.

Ardyn didn't see Noctis move, but he heard the sudden gurgling coming from Luna's throat as she choked on her own blood. She tried to say Noct's name through her gasps but they were drowned in her throat as the blood spilled out. Tears were streaming down Noct's face as he watched her close her eyes and as her lungs stopped gasping for breath. When she fell silent, Noctis pulled his dagger from her abdomen with one hand as the other supported the slender woman around the waist. He gently fell to his knees holding her - his tears landing on her face and chest - before her eyes suddenly opened in the angriest expression he had ever seen her face twist into. He dropped her onto the ground and jumped to his feet as she let out her own daemonic scream just like Aera, then just like Aera she was engulfed in the golden light and vanished.

He stared at the space his bride-to-be had just laid until his tears stopped falling. Ardyn took this chance to speak to the younger man and attempt to bring him back to reality.

"What... was your clue?" he asked, looking at Noctis in a way that wasn't tender, but wasn't mocking either.

"My Luna..." Noctis started, sniffing hard as he regained his composure, "Would never beg me to protect her." He looked at Ardyn, his golden eyes blazing, "My Luna would have stood her ground. She was gentle, but she was strong. She would never beg."

Ardyn offered Noctis a small smile. Noctis nodded in return and they were both about to continue their walk to the entrance of Ardyn's tomb before the temperature suddenly dropped.

"Oh she does choose the most inopportune times doesn't she." Ardyn remarked with more than a touch of exasperation. Noctis didn't reply.

In front of them a small snowy whirlwind began to form before the Frostbearer appeared before them in her pixie-like form; the petite deity floating slightly off the stony floor. 

"So, you would slay the Oracles." she stated.

"That was _not_ Luna!" Noctis bit back angrily. "You stood by her, by us, growing up Gentiana! You know I wouldn't!"

Ardyn knew about her Messenger guise as she helped the Fleuret family, so decided to stay quiet and see where this went.

"The young Lunafreya was strong, even as a child." she smiled at Noctis, her eyes softening. It put the younger man at ease, and he remembered as a young girl she willingly let go of his father's hand as her country burned around her so they could get away faster.

"Then you know that wasn't her!" he growled, his emotions getting the better of him.

"That illusion was... disrespectful." Shiva answered honestly as she seemed to struggle to make eye contact temporarily.

Her reply caught both men off-guard and they just stared at her as she smiled at them both.

"The prophecy cannot be fulfilled." she said, Ardyn rolling his eyes wasn't lost on her before she continued talking, "Yet you both seek to cease the bloodshed."

"Yes!" Noctis answered, "Tell us how can we?"

"The fallen Healer was to be the source, the Chosen King his slayer. Both would give their lives to end the Scourge brought to this Star by the Infernian."

"Yes yes we know all that." Ardyn crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. Noctis was still rather awestruck by Shiva's appearance to them.

"Yet now you are both tainted." she concludes. But her words didn't give the infected men any clearer of an idea of what to do next.

"So... we need another lamb, or another Chosen King." Ardyn stated, stilling his tapping foot and looking hard at Shiva. Her eyes only looked kindly at him.

"No." Noct said defiantly, "No one else is to die for this."

"Admirable Your Majesty, but foolish. What else would you suggest?" Ardyn asked. His patience was wearing thin about the whole situation, and he was getting drawn to the idea of just killing the Draconian more and more.

Noctis didn't have an answer. He and Ardyn had been chosen to save lives, they could not put someone else in danger.

"The Draconian is waiting." Shiva smiled, pointing to the entrance of Ardyn's tomb, where a dark portal had opened up. The blue, pink and purple of the Astral realm was just visible on the other side. Noctis was sure he just saw a sparkle in her eyes. What was she planning?

Exchanging a glance, the First King and Last King made their way to the portal.


	4. Divine Lineage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ardyn and Noctis face the Draconian, but he has one more revelation for them. Shiva has apparently thought about the prophecy going awry and comes up with an alternative... even if she's the one to lose something she holds dear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's been a picture going around that's apparently Bahamut's face underneath his dragon armour helmet. I don't know how it was found but I've seen it - google it before you read this. To help with your search, my dear friend YamiNoMaetel on twitter has it posted on her twitter

After stepping through the portal, both men found themselves in the seemingly weightless Astral realm. And they both couldn't help but think that they never wanted to see this place again. They seemed suspended in midair, yet they could feel some form of ground beneath them. There was a warm blue hue as far as their eyes could see stretching in all directions; all the while small rainbow prisms seemed to dance around the edges of mortal vision, making a complete mockery of the laws of physics.

But the First and Last King of Lucis didn't pay their surroundings much attention because - looming over them - was the gargantuan form of the Draconian, clad in his obsidian and gold armour with a great many swords protruding outwards from his back in a circular fashion.

"Chosen, you have doomed us all." came the booming voice of the God of War.

"No," came Noct's defiant answer as he stepped forward, "There must be another way."

"You were tasked with slaying the Immortal Accursed and ridding the Star of the Scourge. Instead you have been consumed by it." the God answered, disappointment evident in his tone despite how loud his voice echoed throughout this dimension.

"Why could you not have helped Ardyn years ago? Why was he locked away? The souls of my ancestors are trapped in that Ring too! Couldn't you have just _helped_?" Noctis couldn't help but barrage the God he had followed so blindly all his life with questions. It all seemed so unnecessary and unfair to people who had placed their utter faith in the Astrals.

"The Adagium was always Chosen to be our Healer. He did his task well, but his body and soul were too tainted to allow on the throne." came Bahamut's rather calm reply.

"At least you've finally deemed me worthy of a little recognition." Ardyn mumbled spitefully as he crossed his arms, but he was ignored.

Noctis bristled before asking his next question, tensing his jaw, balling his fists and bringing his golden eyes to stare at the Draconian's face.

"Why do I look like Somnus? And why did Luna look like Aera?"

"You were both tasked with righting the wrongs of the original vessel." Bahamut answers, "You had the divine blessing in your veins which is why the Scourge bonded to you all."

"Wait..." Noctis trailed off, shaking his head and looking at the floor, "Luna was...?"

"Yes." Bahamut boomed, "But you - like the Adagium - have tainted this blood blessing."

"If you had simply asked you know I would have accepted the fate!" Ardyn suddenly interrupted, letting his rage boil to the surface and took a few steps forward to being him up to Noct's left side, "Why must you trick and scheme all the time? Is divinity not enough for you?"

"Silence Accursed!" Bahamut warned Ardyn, and the immortal being stopped speaking. Despite the anger seething away in his heart, Ardyn knew now was not the time to unleash it.

"I watched my Dad waste away because of your prophecy! I was prepared to die! So was Ardyn! Does our devotion mean nothing?! Luna forged those covenants that weakened her body because she trusted you!" Noctis was getting furious, and dark tendrils of daemonic power began to smoulder from his body.

"How can the Gods help the foolish humans if they do not help themselves." Bahamut asked them rhetorically.

Before either man could answer the God, there was an eerie gentle chime behind them. As both Lucis Caelum men looked over their shoulders, the dainty pixie-like form of the Glacian was walking towards them. She took her place between Ardyn and Noctis, but she turned her head to her right to look up at the younger man and give him a reassuring smile as Ardyn watched them both in silence.

"Glacian." Bahamut acknowledged the smaller woman. But she did not answer, instead she simply smiled at him too.

"Why did you make us fight the Oracles?" Noctis began his questioning again.

"Because he wanted to punish us." Ardyn answered still with his arms crossed, causing his two allies to look at him, "Isn't that right Draconian?"

"The Gods do not tolerate disobedience. Even from their own kind." he answered the Accursed, but his helmet-covered face was staring at the petite ice pixie between the men. Noctis realised straight away it was a warning to Shiva, and a serious one at that if the legend of the battle between the Bladekeeper and the Infernian at Ravatough were to be believed.

"They have seen the Chosen's likeness to the Founder King through their unholy blood bond, yet have sworn to end the Scourge." the Frostbearer informed the Bladekeeper sweetly. She delicately lifted her feet off the ground and flew up to look the Bladekeeper in his eyes through his helmet. "Mayhaps it is time." she finished. 

The colossal God of War visibly tensed in surprise and, after a few seconds of deliberation, he began to shrink. Shiva floated back down to her place between the two Kings as Bahamut finished his metamorphosis. Smaller and thinner he became in front of their eyes until he was standing a few feet away in front of the trio - albeit he stood a little taller than Ardyn. Without saying a word, Bahamut lifted both of his hands to grasp the sides of his ornate helmet and lifted it off his head.

Noctis wanted to vomit. He wasn't made to look like Somnus after all - he and Somnus had been modelled in Bahamut's image. For - looking back at the trio - was Noct's own face but without the small freckle off to the side of his mouth. The dark hair had been cropped close to his scalp too.

"I - I don't understand." Noctis began, feeling bile rise in his throat.

"I am why the Scourge did not turn you into daemons. The blood blessing was my own, you are a carrier of Astral blood. The House of Lucis Caelum was created to serve my purpose - to rid the Scourge. But now you have both failed me." Bahamut's face screwed up into disdain. Ardyn just stared back with molten hatred in his golden eyes as Noctis kept his head bowed and processed what he had just seen. The silence between them was deafening.

Until Shiva finally broke it.

"They can still fulfil their purpose." she says sweetly, the kind smile gracing her pale face masking how ominous the words actually sounded. "What if there was another?"

"And who would you suggest, Frostbearer?" Bahamut asked her as sarcastically as he could despite his booming powerful voice.

"My own beloved." she states, all trace of sweetness gone. The three immortal men stare at her in varying degrees of bewilderment and - try as she might - they all saw the melancholy she tried to hide settle on her dainty features, "He was tainted by the Accursed many years ago. He is lost to us. Lost to me. As punishment for bringing the Scourge to our Star, I believe it to be the right course."

" _You_ did that?!" Noctis asked Ardyn wide-eyed, looking over the small goddess standing between them. It was clear from Noct's battle with the Infernian in front of the Citadel earlier with his friends that the God of Fire had been infected by the Scourge, but Noctis would never have imagined Ardyn was capable of infecting a deity!

Ardyn simply smirked and shrugged in return. He had a lot to thank the Infernian for after all - without his memories Ardyn would never have found the truth of his younger brother's lies.

As the two youngest men in the dimension had their exchange, the God of War nodded to the Goddess of Ice, seemingly satisfied with her offering.

"The blood price must be paid." he repeated a phrase he had said to Noctis a decade ago, and the Glacian simply looked down at her bare feet in compliance. "Accursed, Chosen!" the Bladekeeper began, with both men looking in his direction, "It has now been decreed in this Revelation that the Infernian Ifrit shall have his tainted flames extinguished for summoning the Meteor that infected this Star all those millennia ago. Use your dark powers and rid your bodies of the plasma unto the God of Fire, thus he may suffer the fate he has condemned millions to."

Noctis was stunned by this development. He had absolutely no idea how to use the heavy daemonic infection that he could actually feel thrumming through his veins. In all honesty, his head was still reeling from finding out he was a descendant of a God. Did his father know? 

"Did my Dad... Did my Dad know about our lineage?" asked the dark-haired man, looking uncertainly at the Bladekeeper.

"None knew of the blood bond." Bahamut stated. Noctis gave a very small nod just as he came to terms with the revelations and the place fell into silence once again. 

"Well then," Ardyn began in a loud jovial voice with a huge smile on his stubbled face, "Seeing as _I'm_ the one capable of summoning our fiery friend, might I suggest you get us out of this rather... empty place so we can call him?"

"Do you really think this could work?" Noctis asked Ardyn Fighting Ifrit the first time had been exhausting, he wasn't really looking forward to doing it again.

"I don't know dear boy," Ardyn tilted his head down to smirk at the younger man, "But what is he going to do? Kill us?"

"The Infernian is already infected, and the power coursing through him will be strong enough to take the dark energy from within you both." Bahamut said. Noctis wasn't sure if he was trying to be reassuring, or just telling them what to do.

"My love deserves release from his torment." Shiva said sadly.

"It's a shame you couldn't extend me the same kindness, Glacian." Ardyn hissed in her direction. 

She brought her icy eyes to look into his own angry golden ones and seemed genuinely sad. Just looking at her sad made Noct's heart break for her slightly. But Ardyn was right, any of the Astrals could have intervened in his two millennia imprisonment but they didn't. Then a thought occurred to him.

"If the Infernian absorbs all of our infection, what will happen to us? Will we die?" he started to panic a little, but was ready to accept it nevertheless and the look of determination on his face left little doubt that he would do whatever he needed to.

"Or..." Ardyn began thoughtfully, his eyes slightly misted over as if his mind was somewhere else, "Would we become mortal?" The small excited tone in the older man's voice wasn't lost on Noctis. 

"That will depend on the strength of your spirit, Fallen King." Bahamut informed them both.

Growing impatient, Shiva lifted an arm above her head and began rolling her wrist in a circular motion, causing a small snowstorm to begin swirling around herself, Ardyn and Noctis; ready to transport them out of this Astral realm.

"Let us go, the Infernian must be called."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My least favourite chapter so far, but events need to be connected before they can end ay


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